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Plant · P-383
Downy Serviceberry
Amelanchier arborea
Downy Serviceberry is a small tree that opens the fruit season twice over - it flowers earlier than almost anything else, feeding the first native bees out in spring, then ripens a crop of iron-rich, blueberry-like fruit that birds usually strip before it is fully ripe. Left to the birds it is excellent habitat; netted or overplanted for a human share, the fruit is eaten raw, cooked or preserved. Flavor varies a lot by seedling, from bland to genuinely sweet and juicy. Left alone it suckers into a shrubby thicket rather than staying a single clean trunk.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moist · Wet
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 5–7
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 15–25 ft
- Mature spread
- 10–15 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–24 ft
- Root type
- Not yet recorded
- Spread pattern
- Root
Keep exploring
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Allegheny Serviceberry
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American Hornbeam
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Ashe Juniper
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Banana Plantain
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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